


Dark Angel S2

by yourlibrarian



Series: Reviews [31]
Category: Dark Angel (TV)
Genre: Gen, Nonfiction, Reviews, Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 16:41:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30108951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourlibrarian/pseuds/yourlibrarian
Summary: Originally posted April 5, 2008.
Series: Reviews [31]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/465847
Collections: March Meta Matters Challenge





	Dark Angel S2

During the writer's strike I decided to use one of my Amazon gift certificates to buy some DVDs. Dark Angel's concept had interested me when it was on, but I'd never gotten around to watching it. I read some of the reviews and it sounded like there was something of a reboot in S2 with a lot of characters written out and some new ones written in, so I decided to go straight to S2 instead of watching in order.

At first I wasn't terribly impressed. The writing wasn't all that, the acting was so-so, and I thought the post-pulse world was rather a mixed bag in terms of presentation. But, you know, I'd bought the set and it wasn't awful so I kept watching. Oddly enough this rather describes my initial attitude towards SPN S1. (After two rewatches I actually feel a bit nostalgic for it).

Back to DA. The first episode that really caught my attention was Medium is the Message. The writing presented some surprises. I'd suspected that White was in on the kidnapping of his own son, but not entirely why and he never seemed as much the villain as in that episode. However it was the Alec and Joshua storyline that I really loved. Although it started off rather goofy (how is it that Joshua never poisons himself with the paint, flea powder, etc.?), it segued to funny with the whole painting sequence. Even though the "Joshua is an artistic genius" storyline was conveniently predictable, it made some sense given Alec's later revealed musical skills. What I most loved about the episode was the ending where the art dealer talks with Joshua and encourages him to keep painting. I found it to be quite touching. Even though I'd already started liking Joshua's character, this really cemented it for me.

The character of Joshua had been a bit of an eyeroller in the season opener. I've never watched Beauty and the Beast and even I could see the serial number. But I think the character was a good choice for the direction they wanted to take things during this season. Taking Max on that continuing journey from being on her own to leading the transgenics in the finale required her to warm up to people, and, particularly, to bond closely with her own kind. She seems to already be doing this in the early episodes (contrasted with Alec, who nevertheless always ends up doing the right thing), but there's a difference between short-term aid and quick solutions, and committing to a position of leadership. So I think her ongoing care of Joshua and his integration into her growing family was actually a useful plotline to develop.

Braniac was rather uneven but the increasing partnership of Alec and Max was a plus and it had a sweet if predictable ending. And then of course there was the Berresford Agenda, which would have been rewarding regardless since it centered on Alec but was also, I thought, fairly well layered in finally giving us something about the character.

There were entertaining moments in Borrowed Time and Love in Vein, mostly due to Joshua and Alec who were, everyone seemed to notice, fun together. This leads me to the commentaries which I found informative. Not surprisingly, listening to a writer and editor on Berresford was generally more helpful than listening to a director and writer on Hello, Goodbye, given my greater interest in characters and overall story development. I looked around for commentary transcripts online but didn't come across any (if anyone reading can link me, I'd appreciate it). The one for the season opener was useful to me in understanding a bit more about the changes between the seasons. I think though, that the episode did quite well in filling me in on what had gone on and helping me learn about the characters. I really didn't feel lost. 

Of course, what I remember most about that commentary was the rather fascinating discussion about how they'd hired Jensen for the Alec role without even knowing if he could do comedy because they'd only ever seen him do drama, then feeling a sense of relief when they saw the dailies for his first scene with Jessica Alba. Given his increasingly central role in the series, all I could conclude was that either fan reaction to his appearance in Pollo Loco had been really positive or that they wanted him in any way, shape or form for the show. Apparently he and Jessica Alba had gotten along well enough during that one-off and I'm curious what it is that caused their later tension. I'm guessing that it may have had more to do with the changing storyline and the writers' desire to create a love triangle than it did with Jensen himself but who knows. The other bits I remember from that commentary was how Jessica didn't want to say a line that references the Terminator series so it got cut, and how long the fight scene in Logan's apartment took to shoot.

The commentary for Berresford didn't talk about Jensen that much considering the episode revolved around him. The one thing I do remember was their discussion of how quickly he was able to play the piano and how they ended up not using any of the hand-double footage. I hadn't realized he even played, and I was rather amused at how he apparently got up to speed nearly as quickly as Alec was supposed to have. Got to say, really loved the glasses too, as apparently did the writer. Storywise, I found it interesting that the original idea for the episode sounded not unlike Red Skies in SPN S3, but that they couldn't make it work until they developed the love story angle. Given that the love story was central to the final episode (not to mention what we learned about Alec) there were obviously many changes along the way. (I wish there had been on Red Skies as well).

The most entertaining commentary was for Hello Goodbye. I was intrigued to hear about how happy the writers and producers were with Alec and Joshua's chemistry and how they even talked about the Dog and His Boy spinoff. I couldn't help noticing that Jensen always seems to be better in buddy situations that romantic ones. The writer also talked about how he loved writing Alec with Max, because they had a sibling relationship that was full of tension and it was fun to see it play out. It was also nice to see the warmth in that episode's pivotal moment in their relationship when he realizes how difficult his presence has been for her and why. Personally I can see the real appeal of the romantic triangle storyline they were headed towards but I actually think the push-pull of that sibling angle is more interesting for them, and think it would have been a great idea to continue the whole "Logan believes they're dating" plotline. Unfortunately just as the writer is talking about the sparks they saw between the two, the director interrupts to highlight the upcoming stunt (and I noticed they always seemed to go silent watching fights and stunts. Men.)

It's kind of amusing to me that it's the male writer who ends up talking sarcastically about how Jensen's "so ugly to look at" and then goes on to discuss how women always react strangely around him, and the director chimes in to discuss what a crush a producer's nanny had on him and probably only took the job for that reason. On the Berresford commentary, where you'd think there'd be ample opportunity to discuss him, it's actually Michael Weatherly the two women gush over in terms of both looks and acting ability, while he's hardly mentioned on the Hello Goodbye track.

I really enjoyed the Annie storyline and think it's a shame that they decided to kill her off so quickly. I get that it was done to parallel Max and Logan and to prove Alec's decision to stay alone as justified. But I thought it was a sweet storyline and a shame to cut it off when it could have been brought back in S3. The scene where she touches Alec's face was really heartbreaking and the final scene where Joshua huddles with Max and Alec after she dies is one of my favorites moments of the season. I thought it symbolized their isolation and deep connection all In one frame.

Fuhgeddaboutit struck me as the ultimate fanfic writer's storyline. The Mia character managed to avoid being a Mary Sue since the story wasn't really about her and she wasn't particularly interested in the main characters, but at the same time her various manipulations struck me as the Deus Ex Machina of writerdom. Of course I particularly laughed when she had Alec revealing his actual thoughts about Logan, their hug, and of course Normal's complete fanboying of Alec. I guess that's as close as they were willing to go with slash.

I think the end of the season was pretty strong compared to the beginning. Dawg Day Afternoon had a fair amount of tension, and started providing a glimpse of the scope the storyline could have. Joshua's move, the destruction of Logan's apartment, the gathering in Terminal City, and the final hostage setup-battle each shook up the storyline and set things up rather nicely for a S3. I particularly liked the police chief who would have been a good ambiguous character.

I quite liked Joshua's flag (and I found it amusing in the commentary when they mentioned that the colors were starting to run in the rain during the final scene where it was being raised). I also thought it was interesting that Richard Gunn mentioned how well thought of Jensen was by the stunt people and that he did a lot of his own work. Of course, amusingly enough, the final episode wasn't his character's finest hour. There seemed to be a distinct effort to move him to the background and move Logan forward.

Aside from Logan, I only knew about the guy who appeared in, what, 2 episodes this season as a love interest and then vanished without another word (rather like Asha just disappeared at season-end). I think it would have worked very well for both Max and Alec to have that relationship wobble between sibling and romantic, and I think that continuing to play with that would have also ramped up the Max/Logan tension that the show was committed to. On the whole I found a lot of the Max/Logan scenes flat, but I thought the Logan character was a good central one to have and really thought the whole normal/transgenic divide for Max would have made a continuing triangle realistic and a great way to explore all three characters more deeply. For example, as Alec reveals,by escaping young Max not only was able to fit in better, but had less trauma in her background. It would have been useful to explore those differences between them as well as the differences between Alec and Logan.

In the commentary on the finale several people mentioned how much they had wanted to do a Normal-centered episode but that Jam Pony wasn't really connected with the transgenic storyline and thus it never worked out. I'm not sure why they felt they had to give that storyline primacy instead of better developing the other characters. I would have liked to see more of Normal and Cindy as well. Sketchy got a bit more to do in some episodes but he seemed a rather one-note character to me.

Sadly, White, who got a good deal of screen time, did not engage me at all as a villain and on the whole the breeding cult idea kind of sagged for me. I gathered from some comments on Amazon that many people didn't care for that storyline and much preferred the S1 villains. I got the sense that the first season was more ambitious in terms of trying to create that dark, realistic storyline and that Max herself was more alienated. (I thought it was also a great idea of the writers in S2 to position Alec as being on the path of 1st season Max). It must have been a jarring change and I expect they lost audience making the changes they did.

As a side note I found it rather fun to spot the 6 different BSG actors during this season. I may have yet missed others (I got Boomer, Callie, Chief Tyrol, Dualla, Sharma and Gaeta).


End file.
